A friend of mine works at the assembly plant, and he brought a new SS out to give some of us a chance to look at the car and even let a bunch of us drive it!

I got to drive it about 10 miles or so, but the road was very straight, so I didn't get to see how it cornered. I did get the chance to go full throttle a couple of times, it feels about the same as a stock LS1 f-body unfortunately. I figured they would be quicker, but it feels like about a 13.3 at 105 to me. It's got 426hp, but weighs probably 3800 lbs so that obviously hurts performance. The suspension is nice, it felt very comfortable over the bumps, not harsh, but still firm and sporty. I found the seating position odd, it was a lot different than what I'm used to in my C5 Corvette. The gauges are kind of odd looking, IMO, it would take me a while to get used to them. But the entire dash layout is pretty cool, especially the four gauges down low in the console (including trans temp and oil temp, those are nice touches!)

I'm not sure what the name of this color was (I'm sure a lot of you guys in here will tell me what it is), in the pictures it just looks like Victory Red but it's actually a metallic red that has a very strong orange look to it in the direct sunlight.

This car was the 210th one off the assembly line, and I believe they are going to start being sold to the public in mid March. It was very cool to be one of the select few people (outside of GM employees and the automotive press) to have driven one!! It's amazing how fast time flies though, it seems to me like it was just yesterday when I got the chance to see one of the very first 98 Camaro SS pre production models before anyone else saw them.

Here are some pics:

 

Nice!

 

was it an auto or m6? By the way, I am very jealous of you!

 

M6, it shifts way nicer than the old T56 though!!

 

is it more solid of a car..

does it have a "cheap" feel to it?

how is traction?

 

awesome! you should have called me,Patman,lol.i would love to drive that thing.shoulda taken it down on the 401 and let it rip.
hmm. i have a friend that works at the Oshawa plant aswell,maybe i'll give him a call tomorrow.

 

I think that color is IOM, Ignition Orange Metallic. It looks a lot more red than orange. I'm guessing that its was an A6, too bad it doesn't feel faster than a stock 4th gen sotp wise, but I bet it has more low-end grunt from the extra cubes.

 

It doesn't have a cheap feel to it at all, everything feels very solid and well put together. GM has definitely taken things up a notch with this car, it is a very big improvement over the 4th gens! Very smooth to drive, I had no trouble shifting the manual trans properly, even though it's been a very long time since I drove a manual car on a regular basis (since I sold my 98 Formula at the end of 2001) I bet this car would be very easy to be consistent at the dragstrip with too!

Traction was very good, I was driving along holding the rpms at 3000 in first gear, then I hammered it, and the tires did not spin, even on cold roads (32 degrees) On the hard shift into second at full throttle it grabbed nicely too, no wheelspin. The heavy weight of the car is obviously helping in that regard too, helping to keep things firmly planted.

 

It's only as fast as a stock LS-1 car.That suck's well i guess i will buy a used C6 Z06 then.

 

Keep in mind, that's just my opinion on how it felt. It's entirely possible the car is quicker in the quarter than an LS1 f-body, but just doesn't feel as fast as it really is because it's so smooth, and the because the power delivery of the LS3 is so different than the LS1 (it isn't as peaky as the LS1).

 

keep in mind there are a lot of cares that **feel faster than an ls1, that arent...

 

Yes,i understand and will have to test drive one myself before i decide.I remember the first time i drove a LS-1 car and i thought it did not have the power of the LT-1 but i was wrong.

 

 

Was it broken in or low on miles. I am sure it is about as fast as an LS1...just look at the thrust to weight ratio...but once it gets broken in it will have a bit more oomph.

W

 

Look at those big-*** resonator tubes hanging off of the intake, lol. CAI will free-up 20hp EASY. I wonder why they aren't hitting dealers til mid-March? Obviously that one could be at a dealer in the US tomorrow. I'm from Tonawanda, NY, and Mississauga, ONT is literally 45 minutes from my house. Pop that bitch on a carrier and bring it on over!

 

man thats a good looking car!!!

 

I just read in a mag that a 6 speed gxp ran a 13.3 at a 109 trap speed. this is 12 second car all day long

Shouldnt the camaro at least equal this time? It has 7 more rated horspower(not that it matters) and is a bit lighter. And these are mag times.

I didnt think the ls1 f-body ever achieved those trap speeds stock? maybe with evan smith driving...but hell lots of mags had the ls1 f-bods at a 13.5-13.7 with about a 105 trap.

They will be faster than an ls1 f-bod if initial gxp testing is trapping 109.

 

The engineering of this car is going to make it seem slower than it really is.

The Camaro is based on the Pontiac G8 so it will be smooth in ride and steering imput as well as quiet at speed. I go 80mph+ in my G8 and it feels like 50mph, you have to constantly monitor the speedo to keep yourself within legal speed.

CAI and exhaust should free up a ton of power on this car. It should fit 295s out back stock too, just like the G8.

 

They are still sorting out things on these cars though. This one in particular was sent to audit for something to do with the fitment of it's dash. I didn't notice any problems with it, but the assembly plant is going to be replacing something on it next week.

So I guess GM is just being extra cautious not to send these cars "out into the wild" just yet until they know they will be close to perfect.

 

wow...jelousy is raging inside of me right now. but thanks for letting us in on this bit of info.